// startup autopsy

Look.io

Mobile live chat swallowed by the enterprise cloud giant.

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built a standalone mobile live chat product in a niche that enterprise giants were actively acquiring, leaving no path to independent scale once acquired.

Founded	2011
Closed	2013
Country	USA
Sector	Developer tools

50%

Key Events Timeline

2011-01-01

FOUNDING

Look.io founded to deliver in-app live chat and engagement tools for mobile apps.

2012-06-01

FUNDING

Look.io secures funding to grow its mobile customer engagement platform and expand sales.

2012-10-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Full product launch of in-app live chat SDK targeting mobile-first B2B software companies.

2013-06-01

SHUTDOWN

Look.io acquired by Oracle and absorbed into its customer experience cloud, ending its independent operation.

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Look.io was a Santa Monica-based mobile live chat startup founded in late 2011 by Grant Miller, built out of the Amplify accelerator. The product allowed developers to embed real-time live chat with visual scre...

en-sharing ("Visual Assist") into iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, enabling support agents to view and guide users remotely. Look.io was acquired by LivePerson just nine months after founding, in June

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Look.io collapsed from built a standalone mobile live chat product in a niche that enterprise giants were actively acquiring, leaving no path to independent scale once acquired.. Documented cause, verified lesson, all failure signals.

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